Completing Onboarding

Final steps before you start dictating

After choosing your hotkey and selecting your languages, the onboarding flow guides you through two final steps: testing your setup and choosing your analytics preferences. These steps make sure everything is working correctly before you begin using ParrotKey in your daily workflow.

Hotkey test

The hotkey test step lets you verify that your microphone, hotkey, and language settings are all configured correctly. Here is how it works:

1. Press your dictation hotkey to start recording.
2. Speak a few words naturally into your microphone.
3. Press the hotkey again to stop recording.
4. Your transcribed text should appear on screen, confirming that everything is working.

If your text appears correctly, your microphone is picking up audio, your hotkey is registered, and your language setting is producing accurate transcriptions. You are ready to continue.

If something does not work as expected, go back to the previous steps to check your microphone selection, hotkey configuration, or language settings.

Analytics consent

The final onboarding step asks whether you would like to share anonymous usage analytics to help improve ParrotKey. This is entirely optional.

• You can choose to share anonymous usage data to help the ParrotKey team understand how the app is used and where it can be improved.
• You can also decline — ParrotKey works exactly the same either way.
• No personal data or audio recordings are ever collected, regardless of your choice.
• You can change this setting at any time in Settings > General.

Welcome to the Home dashboard

After completing onboarding, you arrive at the ParrotKey Home dashboard. This is your central hub for using the application.

The dashboard displays your usage statistics, including the number of words you have dictated, time saved compared to typing, and your current dictation streak. These stats update automatically as you use ParrotKey.

The sidebar gives you access to all of ParrotKey's features:

• Prompts — create and manage custom AI instructions
• Languages — add, remove, and reorder your transcription languages
• Dictionary — add custom words and terms for better transcription accuracy
• Team — manage team settings and shared configurations
• Settings — configure hotkeys, microphone, and general preferences
• About — view version information and release notes

ParrotKey is now running

ParrotKey runs in the background once you complete onboarding. You do not need to keep the main window open. The app icon appears in your system tray (Windows) or menu bar (macOS) for quick access to settings and status information.

To start dictating, simply press your hotkey anywhere on your computer. ParrotKey works system-wide across all applications — no plugins or extensions needed.

Quick reference: the Cheatsheet

If you ever need a reminder of all available keyboard shortcuts and features, open the Cheatsheet from the menu bar or system tray icon. It provides a visual overview of every hotkey and mode available in ParrotKey.